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Parents need to be good role models to help their children make sensible financial decisions, according to Adam Hancock and his team, from East Carolina University in the US. Their work highlights that parents who argue about finances contribute to increasing credit card debt among their children during their student years. Their work is published online in Springer's Journal of Family and Economic Issues.

A sociologist of religion from the University of Copenhagen has interviewed 21 young patients diagnosed with a life-threatening cancer about their religious beliefs. She concludes that a cancer diagnosis will not make young people, who are not religious already, turn to religion. But it can confirm already existing beliefs.

More than 200 patients have been diagnosed with fungal meningitis following spinal epidural injections with contaminated methylprednisolone from a compounding pharmacy. In a clinical observation being published early online today in Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers provide details about the clinical care, deterioration, and ultimately the death of one of the index cases in this outbreak.

Non-infected babies born to HIV positive mothers should be vaccinated early against measles, to avoid them acquiring the virus or passing it on to others.

A study published in the November issue of Acta Paediatrica found that even if babies are born without HIV, their maternally derived protection against measles may be impaired by their mother's positive HIV status.

Almost 500 international experts have worked together to develop a ranking system of the ten most important phytopathogenic fungi on a scientific and economic level. The rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae) sits at the top of the list.

A survey conducted on 495 international researchers resulted in a list contaning the most important phytopathogenic fungi. Each researcher chose three that they thought to be most significant and the most voted then formed the list.

Researchers at Rice University report that referring cancer patients to hospitals with better track records for surgery could save lives and not raise the cost to patients. The study was reported online today in the journal Forum for Health Economics and Policy.

HERSHEY, Pa. -- Losing weight does not lead to improved fertility in women, but does improve sexual function, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

"Obesity in women has been linked to lack of ovulation and thus infertility," said Richard Legro, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology. "Obesity, especially centered in the abdomen, among infertile women seeking pregnancy is also associated with poor response to ovulation induction and with decreased pregnancy rates."

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (October 18, 2012) – A new drug created at the University of Minnesota may hold the answer to defeating pancreatic cancer, according to results published today in the prestigious journal Science Translational Medicine.

The study is based on successful outcomes in a mouse model – results researchers expect to carry over to human patients when the drug potentially begins human trials in 2013.

CHICAGO – The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is renewing its call to reduce the destructive effects of guns in the lives of children and adolescents, including counseling parents about safe gun storage as well as supporting legislation to prevent firearm injuries and deaths.

Women whose first pregnancy is ectopic are likely to have fewer children in the following 20-30 years than women whose first pregnancy ends in a delivery, miscarriage or abortion, according to results from a study of nearly 3,000 women in Denmark. In addition, these women have a five-fold increased risk of a subsequent ectopic pregnancy.

The first study to look at long-term reproductive outcomes in women whose first pregnancy was ectopic is published online today (Thursday) in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1].

Bariatric surgery—restrictive gastric banding and other types of gastric bypass—can radically reduce risk factors for heart disease and stroke, and within a short period of time, indicates an analysis of the available evidence, published online in Heart.

The impact is much greater and faster than drug treatments for weight management or diabetes, say the authors, and in some cases, could be life-saving.

SEATTLE – One of the world's leading bone marrow transplant experts is recommending a significant change to current transplant practice for patients who need marrow or adult stem cells from an unrelated donor to treat hematologic malignancies. Fred Appelbaum, M.D., director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, asserts that bone marrow – not circulating, peripheral blood, which is the current norm – should be the source for unrelated donor adult stem cells for most patients who require a transplant.

A mayfly trapped in 16-million-year-old-amber reveals a hitchhiking springtail, a wingless arthropod that is amongst the most commonly found bugs all over the world. The new research, published Oct 17 in the open access journal PLOS ONE led by David Penney from the University of Manchester, UK, is the first to show that springtails travelled on winged insects like mayflies, and only the second example of this mode of travel by springtails in the past or present.

As the climate changes, conservationists are divided over the most effective way to preserve animal and plant diversity because they cannot simply preserve the status quo. Ensuring species can shift to track the climate to which they are suited is a complex problem, especially when there are competing demands on land use. A simple prediction is that more habitat would help species to shift, but it is not obvious what the best spatial locations for habitat would be.

Stunning images, including video footage, from a CT scan of amber have revealed the first evidence of any creature using an adult mayfly for transport.

Researchers at the University of Manchester say this 16 million-year-old hitchhiker most likely demonstrates activity that is taking place today but has never previously been recorded.

Entombed in amber the tiny springtail can be seen resting in a v-shaped depression at the base of one of the mayfly's wings. It appears to have secured itself for transport using its prehensile antennae.